The idea of a Death Star-like beam piercing through the sky to zap its target may seem scary, but it's actually a military weapons refinement that could save lives. Directed energy weapons can neutralize other weapons or vehicles without any collateral damage, noted Frost & Sullivan analyst Michael Blades. "Additionally, DE weapons can 'dazzle' sensors so an adversary aircraft cannot attack." [More...]

Microsoft on Thursday issued a security advisory acknowledging a vulnerability in all versions of Windows that could allow FREAK exploits. Windows systems previously were thought to be immune to FREAK attacks. "The vulnerability could allow an attacker to force the downgrading of the cipher suites used in an SSL/TLS connection on a Windows client system," the advisory reads. [More...]

Almost 17,000 malware alerts surface every week, the Ponemon Institute recently found. Only 4 percent of alerts were investigated, and traditional antivirus products missed nearly 70 percent of malware in the first hour, researchers discovered in a recent Damballa study.
Rescanning led to identification of 66 percent of the malware in 24 hours and 72 percent after seven days. [More...]

Harmonix on Thursday revealed that the fourth installment of Rock Band will launch this fall on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The news comes about five years after the last title in the franchise made its debut. Harmonix is celebrating the series' return by gifting fans Frank Turner's I Still Believe. It's an appropriate track for a series that has taken some time off. [More...]

China should change its tune on new rules for purchases from American high-tech companies if it wants to do business with the United States, President Obama recently warned. China reportedly is planning to ask U.S. high-tech firms to hand over their encryption keys and install security backdoors in their systems to allow surveillance as a counterterrorism measure. [More...]

It's fair to say that game developers have missed an opportunity with World War I. It was the first conflict to see aircraft used in combat, the first to see tanks and other armored vehicles make an appearance on the battlefield, and the first war in more than a century to completely draw in the major powers of the world. WWI should be a setting ripe for action and strategy games. [More...]

When it was prepping Crysis 3 a couple of years ago, Crytek said it wanted to melt high-end PCs. As an indication of how far mobile gaming has come, Nvidia just announced that the third iteration of Crytek's sci-fi shooter will be available on the Android-based Shield console when it arrives later this year. Shield will stream games from Grid, Nvidia's supercomputer-powered cloud gaming platform. [More...]

There's a new Nikon camera that actually won't work for parents eager to flash their cash at a kid's birthday party with an expensive DSLR when a camera phone would work just fine.
The D810A has an infrared filter that probably will result in distorted colors when used for everyday purposes. So you might not want to use it for that cute shot of a butterfly nestling on a poppy. [More...]

Twitter has announced actions to further protect users of its network -- but it left them vague. The company is rolling out unspecified improvements to its reporting process for content issues including impersonation, self-harm, and the sharing of private and confidential information, aka "doxing." It's also beginning to add new enforcement actions for use against accounts that violate its rules. [More...]

President Barack Obama last week made good on his promise to establish a center for cybersecurity information gathered by agencies of the federal government. It's a laudable initiative -- if it works. The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center will connect the dots regarding malicious foreign cyberthreats to the nation and cyberincidents affecting U.S. national interests. [More...]

Samsung's new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge phones are getting kudos for their aluminum and glass construction. The S6 edge differs from the S6 in that its Gorilla Glass screen curves and wraps around the phone on both sides. The curved edge functions as a secondary display for quick viewing of notifications, access to contacts, and single-handed launching of apps. [More...]

At MWC 2015, you'll see curved screens on a lot of new phones. I used to think curved phones were a joke -- but I recently got to play with the LG G-Flex 2, pictured here. I fell in love. Our bodies are curved -- not straight like a typical smartphone. A curved screen phone fits our curves far better than a straight phone -- and it looks more advanced than any other phone in the market. [More...]

Even for someone endlessly in awe of our ability to traverse continents in just a few hours, traveling is increasingly a chore. Anything I can add to trips to make them even a touch more enjoyable is nothing to sniff at. A suitcase with a built-in, motorized scooter may be just what I need to freshen up journeys. Warning: It's carry-on size, but it's far beyond typical carry-on luggage weight. [More...]

The fog shrouding the Apple Watch won't be lifted on March 9. Apple's invite to its media event displays the tease "Spring Forward," which likely refers to the shift in daylight savings time -- and time itself. Sure, we'll learn more about the Apple Watch's functionality, but the mystery is whether most of us new buyers suddenly will turn into watch wearers for longer than a few months. [More...]

Researchers at Google's DeepMind subsidiary in England have developed an artificial agent they call a "deep Q-network" that learned to play 49 classic Atari 2600 arcade games by just diving in. The DQN algorithm performed at more than 75 percent of the level of a professional player in more than half the games. It achieved the maximum attainable scores in certain games, such as Breakout. [More...]

Healthcare providers have garnered growing interest from hackers in recent months. More evidence of that trend appeared last week in a report on email trust. An email that appeared to come from a healthcare company was four times more likely to be fraudulent than an email purportedly from a social media company like Facebook, one of the largest creators of email on the Internet, Agari found. [More...]

Volvo last week revealed the latest developments in its Drive Me project, showing off a complete system that could make it possible to integrate self-driving cars into regular traffic with drivers behind the wheel. Volvo is making progress toward its goal of releasing 100 self-driving vehicles to consumers on selected roads around Gothenburg -- Sweden's second largest city -- by 2017. [More...]

Valve on Monday announced that it's getting into the virtual reality hardware business. In a terse tease posted to the Web, the company trumpeted its intentions to reveal its SteamVR hardware system next week at the 2015 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Valve also announced that it is looking for developers and publishers to create content for its new VR hardware system. [More...]

Google will place a privacy curtain around sexually explicit images and video on its Blogger platform if users fail to remove the content of their own volition by March 23. The measure falls short of outright censoring the content or terminating users. However, it does restrict access to the owner or admins of the blog and the people with whom the owner has shared it. [More...]

The money is pouring into Pebble's Kickstarter campaign for its new smartwatch, Pebble Time. Within hours, upwards of 26,000 supporters had pledged more than $5.3 million. The project's goal was to raise a mere $500,000. The strength of the response highlights the enthusiastic fan base Pebble has built. "Pebble Time appears to be yet another blockbuster," said tech analyst Ryan Martin. [More...]